An Inside Look on a New Summer

WOW….What a summer it has been so far. My summer training, flipping off wooden ramps into an oversized pool, began particularly early this year, May 1st. After ending the season on a high note, finishing third at the US National Championships, I was extremely motivated to get back to training, and pick up right where I left off. So far, I have spent quite a bit of time working on perfecting the basics. Staying back and working on very basic tricks can sometimes be frustrating and demoralizing, but it is also extremely beneficial. I was fortunate enough to see first hand how important the fundamentals are in my sport, and have a great appreciation for that. As the summer has progressed, I’ve begun to work on some of my more difficult tricks, perfecting each element piece by piece. Just this past week I spent 4 days in Park City, Utah. As a “rookie” of the national team, U.S. Ski team, we are shuttled out to Park City for several days of meetings and team building activities to truly unite as a team. Although my sport is an individual sport, and at the end of the day I’m competing against my teammates, there is still a very strong team bond. Nobody can get to the top by themselves, the support team spans from teammates, coaches, and family, all the way to the FANS! (Who are by no means ever forgotten). The next big step for me is moving out to Park City fulltime, in just two weeks I’ll be living and training full time in Park City. While I have lived and trained in Lake Placid for the past four years of my life, and the majority of my aerial career, I am really looking forward to getting out the Utah and training with some of the best athletes in the world.

On another note, I was super excited to do a new trick today…Double full full, a triple twisting double backflip. This is the second variation of a triple twisting double backflip that I have done now. It is always extremely exciting and satisfying to learn a new trick…especially when you land on your feet!